January 1, 2011 | It's a new year, and a chilly one! It is a brisk 36°F this morning. more
February???
February 2, 2011 | I feel a little like Punxatawny Phil, rousted from a long winter's nap to face February. Not that I've been napping for the whole month of January. I'm just saying... more
A super Super Bowl weekend 2011
February 9, 2011 | The usual suspects came to Desert Hot Springs to observe the pseudo-holiday Super Bowl. This was the 13th consecutive year that we have observed this all-American pseudo holiday by getting together somewhere to dine, and dine, and dine. Oh, yeah, we also watch the game — but mostly for the commercials. This year's ads were sort of ho-hum. more
Why can't Microsoft make things that 'just work'?
February 11, 2011 | This morning I decided to see if I could set up my Dell laptop to run as a remote desktop on my Gateway. The Dell has a complete stand-alone web development environment — Apache web server, PHP scripting language, and MySQL database — and sometimes I'd like to quickly try an idea while I'm sitting with my Gateway in the living room or on the patio without having to walk back to the office. Windows has a feature called Remote Desktop that sounds exactly right: more
Snow on the mountain
February 21, 2011 | Last Friday Mother Nature dumped on the the valley again. It simply poured Friday night, all night, and the morning brought mostly cloudy but drier skies. Finally on Sunday morning, everything cleared and we could see and smell what she had done. Smell, because the air had beent thoroughly washed and cleared of dust and pollution, leaving nothing but freshness. more
The escrow that won't close
March 12, 2011 | When I accepted the offer on my condo in mid-January, it was supposed to close in 30 days — that is, by mid-February. It's now mid-March, and it's still not closed. more
Light at the end of the tunnel?
March 19, 2011 | Late yesterday afternoon a tiny speck of light emerged from the black hole that has been Wells Fargo Bank. My Buyer received this email: more
Opera in the Park 2011
March 28, 2011 | Opera in the Park has become an annual tradition for the bunch — What's not to like about a picnic under beautiful spring skies with a free concert? In fact, if you come early, you can actually enjoy the concert twice, once during rehearsal and again in full-dress. more
Foolish news round-up
April 1, 2011 | Today we bring you this recap of top mockable news stories in March: more
Anza-Borrego or bust
April 4, 2011 | In the spring of years past, we have made excursions to the poppy fields near Lancaster. This year we thought we'd try for other wild flowers, and Anza-Borrego came to mind. We thought we might have left it a bit late, but there had been other important demands on our Sundays earlier. So, yesterday we piled into the Prius headed for Borrego Springs, right in the middle of the park. It would be about a two-hour drive. more
The mind boggles
April 8, 2011 | Either the world has lost its ever-lovin' mind, or I have. There is no other explanation. more
Closed
April 14, 2011 | The long real-estate nightmare is finally over. The sale of my Palm Springs condo has finally closed, 287 days after it was listed for sale. more
On the eve of Rapture
May 20, 2011 | There are people absolutely convinced that The Rapture will occur tomorrow, May 21st. Supposedly those who died believing in Christ shall rise from the dead and the living who are similarly right-thinking will all be gathered up and taken to Heaven to be reunited with Jesus. Those left behind are to suffer grievously from earthquake, fire, pestilence, and other unpleasantness. more
Still here!
May 21, 2011 | As Gertrude Stein said, "There's no there there." She was not, of course, speaking of The Rapture, but of not being able to find her childhood home in Oakland. And Saturday night, 6pm PDT to be precise, proved there's no Rapture there either. The headquarters of Family Radio Worldwide in Oakland remained closed and presumably disappointed followers of Harold Camping were left camping in the parking lot. more
In with the new
May 26, 2011 | It's fun to spend money. It's even more fun to spend money that you actually have, as opposed to money that Visa will loan you for an exhorbitant interest rate. Now that the condo has closed, I am working on my to-do list. more
Fail
May 31, 2011 | The Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union — née HP Credit Union — was swallowed up last year by First Tech Credit Union in what was touted as a merger "of equals." A 20-page booklet sent out earlier this spring to every AAFCU member promised that "when we were creating our new logo, we were committed to honoring the heritage of both credit unions...." more
Sarah fever
June 5, 2011 | Say what you will about Sarah Palin, she does know how to get attention! She crashed the big Harley Davidson Rolling Thunder Ride in Washington DC on Memorial Day, then set off on what she's calling a "One Nation" tour of historic sites. more
A char-broiled Weiner
June 6, 2011 | It's come to this: the darling of the progressive wing of the Democratic party is a crotch-ety old lech. Anthony Weiner finally admitted in a New York press conference this afternoon that the now famous Twitter photo is his — with certitude. more
Accentuate the negative
June 12, 2011 | Last November, the Republicans took control not only of the US House, but also many of the governorships and state legislatures. The verdict is now in — the voters don't like what they bought! more
Encounters with brick walls
June 17, 2011 | Faithful readers — there are maybe one or two — may recall that I am converting one of my websites from static html pages to, at least in part, pages generated dynamically from a database. Take this website, for example: it's all static pages. Once I've written one of these articles, it's never going to change (unless I go back to correct a typo or add a picture). Each article is one page of html code. more
Summer solstice, summer sizzle
June 21, 2011 | As recently as Sunday at brunch, The Bunch were sitting around marveling about how inordinately mild the summer was. It was past the middle of June and the weather was more like May. more
Well bowl me over!
June 22, 2011 | If it's summer it must be bowling season. The summer season of the Monday night Fun Handicap League got started on 6 June, and once again the usual suspects showed up to display their skill (or lack thereof) and utter disregard for the competitive dimension of the game. more
Fourth of July 2011
July 5, 2011 | Although I believe that given the current state of civic affairs the 4th of July should be observed as a National Day of Mourning rather than as a celebration, the Brunch Bunch did its patriotic best to follow tradition. more
Starving the beast
July 12, 2011 | The chickens have come home to roost. The impasse in Washington over the budget and the debt ceiling is the latest battle in a war against the government begun back in the days of Ronald Reagan when the "starve the beast" strategy was born.1 The idea was that people would never agree to reducing government services, so by enacting popular tax cuts programs could be slashed later as a necessity of not having sufficient funds. "The beast" — the government — would be starved to death. We've seen how well that worked out — instead of slashing programs the government has instead borrowed money to keep the programs going. more
Spare Me advances
July 12, 2011 | Spare Me! after 5 weeks of bowling this summer now stands in 3rd place, just 1½ points behind first place Hunters. more
Apocalypse, now not so much
July 13, 2011 | It seems as if the voice of reason may have a chance to be heard in Washington. Yesterday, American business leaders sent a letter to President Obama and all members of Congress saying, essentially, "Get it done!" more
Sanity reigns
July 20, 2011 | Americans have always been very practical people — show them a problem and they'll set about trying to fix it. Until recently, innovation and creativity were hallmarks of the American ethos. We were the "can do" country of the world. more
After 8 weeks of bowling
August 4, 2011 | The past two weeks of bowling have been deeply satisfying. We did really well against formidable opponents. And, after 8 weeks of the season (only 3 left), Spare Me! finds itself in 2nd place. Woo-hoo! more
What's behind the mean gate?
August 6, 2011 | The key to one of Sherlock Holmes' more famous cases was the dog that didn't bark. Farther east in the Coachella Valley, we have cases of the hot-air balloons that don't soar. In the early morning hours it used to be quite usual to see a dozen or more balloons drifting languidly above the valley, but no more thanks to a spate of lawsuits filed against the balloonists by the owners of an olive ranch near Indio. more
Up, up and away!
August 19, 2011 | The hot-air balloonists and their lawyer were about to get a court-ordered look behind the mean gates in Indio. But a funny thing happened on the way: the plaintiffs — John C and Carol Marrelli, along with their daughter Marilena, all of Solana Beach — suddenly dropped all their lawsuits against the balloonists. Never mind! more
Calling to close my account
August 31, 2011 | One of the first things I did after starting work at HP was to open an account at the HP Employees Federal Credit Union. more
Spare Me! finishes in 2nd place
August 31, 2011 | I know, nobody wants to be in 2nd place (although Avis turned it to good marketing advantage). But Spare Me! was quite happy to be there. more
LA County Fair in Pomona
October 9, 2011 | As September drew to a close, the usual suspects — Bob, Réal, and I, but not Ken this time — made the traditional visit to the LA County Fair. As usual, we went on a Wednesday when old codgers get in at a very low price. This year we splurged and bought VIP parking, which put us about 50 feet from the entrance. Yes! more
None of the above
October 25, 2011 | The Republican debatathon goes on. And on. If anything is clear it is this: none of the above wins this contest in a landslide. more
Class welfare
October 30, 2011 | The Republicans latest attack line is that Obama is waging "class warfare", pitting class against class and people against each other. This is just another example of the pot calling the kettle black. In fact, it is a rhetorical device of which the Repugnicans are extremely fond — claiming that the adversary is doing what they themselves are doing. more
Usage nazis
November 2, 2011 | I read a lot of library books — the old fashioned kind printed with ink on paper and pages that you actually turn. And it seems rare that I can make it all the way through a book without finding an annotation correcting a presumably egregious error in the book. To wit: more
Long pants weather
November 5, 2011 | A cold front has moved in, bringing snow and making everyone excavate their long pants from the nether regions of the closet. more
A cold, wet Pride
November 8, 2011 | Sunday was the Palm Springs Pride parade and the second day of the festival. The usual suspects met up early in the morning for parking, breakfast, and a prime viewing location. more
"No"
November 9, 2011 | The off-year elections are often yawners that generate little interest, enthusiasm, or importance. 2011 may be the exception that proves the rule (whatever that expressions means). more
The harder they fall
November 12, 2011 | We've seen two spectacular falls this week — one set off rioting in the streets, the other made pundits hyperventilate. more
Do no harm
November 18, 2011 | Having itself failed to reach any kind of "grand bargain" to solve the "debt crisis" (a wholly manufactured calamity), Congress in its infinite wisdom delegated the task to a committee of 12, known as the Super Committee, charged with finding a way to eliminate $1.2 trillion in Federal debt — and do it by November 23. Or else! more
Thanksgiving 2011
November 30, 2011 | For Thanksgiving, the usual suspects convened at Ken's for the annual pig-out feast. Oink, oink! more
The forlorn roadrunner
December 1, 2011 | The wind is roaring through the desert today, steadily over 30mph with gusts to 55. It's a continuation of what began last night, and is predicted to last through most of the day and then recur on Friday morning. more
Festival of Lights parade 2011
December 4, 2011 | With temperatures in the 50s and a light breeze, it definitely felt like winter at this year's Festival of Lights Parade. The streets were packed as the estimated 80,000 people streamed into town for this annual event. The bad news was that traffic and parking were a mess. The good news was that since we had to park so far away from the parade route, that once we reached the car afterwards, getting back home was a piece of cake. more
Happy birthdays to you!
December 6, 2011 | The usual suspects, plus a bunch more, assembled Sunday evening at the Rainbow to celebrate birthdays: Réal's 60th and Kenny's 58th. Since their birthdays are just a couple of days apart they decided last year that they would have a joint birthday party once Richard and Kenny got to Palm Springs from Montreal. more
Borowitz Report
December 14, 2011 | I've recently started to read The Borowitz Report by comedian Andy Borowitz. Many days its fake news articles are just laughing-out-loud funny. If you're fond of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report, the political skits of Saturday Night Live, or The Onion and the like, you'll probably enjoy tuning in to the Borowitz Report. more
Why does this man look like he's ready to cry?
December 22, 2011 | The party that can't say "Yes" just said "Uncle!" The House Repugnicans, led by Speaker John Boehner, gave up their intransigence over the 2-month extension of the payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits, and with good reason: more
Merry Christmas
December 25, 2011 | The usual suspects, et al, gathered chez moi to observe Christmas with the customary good cheer and feasting. more
Landscaping project: "Before"
December 29, 2011 | When I moved into this house there were three big things on the "to-do" list: more
